• Giffords to launch in-person push for gun law compromise

    Joshua Lott / Getty Images

    Mark Kelly leans his head on the shoulder of his wife and former Congresswoman Gabby Giffords as they attend a news conference asking Congress and the Senate to provide stricter gun control in the United States on March 6, 2013 in Tucson, Arizona.

    By Kasie Hunt, Political Reporter, NBC News

    For former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, gun violence is personal -- so she's going to begin her own in-person push for a new compromise to expand background checks for gun sales when she returns to Capitol Hill next week, NBC News has learned.

    And the gun safety group she founded with husband, Mark Kelly, will begin making robocalls Thursday in Pennsylvania and West Virginia, looking to support the two senators who crafted the deal -- an attempt to demonstrate that the organization is committed to challenging the gun lobby's political infrastructure.

    The National Rifle Association’s grassroots power is near-legendary, but in the wake of the Newtown, Conn., massacre, gun safety groups have tried to demonstrate that politicians should be worried about — and able to rely on help from — the other side, too.

    "We are going to be there for the lawmakers who listen to the over 90 percent of Americans who support an expanded background check system. We recognize that up until now, the influence and power around this issue has been on the other side," said Pia Carusone, spokeswoman for Americans for Responsible Solutions. "Those days are over and we are going to be carefully watching the votes over the next few weeks."

    The push from Giffords comes at a critical time for gun legislation in the Senate. The legislation cleared a critical hurdle Thursday as senators voted to open debate on a bill that would expand background checks, make gun trafficking a federal crime, and provide more funding for school safety.

    But an important test comes with the vote on the background check compromise. Democratic leadership aides say they expect the tally on the background check amendment to reflect whether they'll win final passage of a gun bill.

    Giffords, who was shot in the head as she met with constituents at a Tucson Safeway supermarket in January 2011, had already planned to be in Washington to dedicate a meeting room in the Capitol in honor of aide Gabe Zimmerman, who was killed in the shooting that wounded her.

    She plans to ask for meetings with a number of Republicans — and Democrats — who the group believes might be open to supporting the background check compromise amendment to the gun legislation. Senators Pat Toomey and Joe Manchin announced their compromise proposal on Wednesday.

    The new language still needs to be added to the bill, as its first amendment, and Democrats plan to try and vote to add it to the bill early next week.

    Also next week, Kelly is set to give a speech at the University of Pennsylvania, where he'll praise Toomey's efforts.

    In the meantime, the robocalls supportive of Toomey will target voters in suburban Philadelphia, a swing area where gun control is popular. In West Virginia, calls will go to white, male voters over 30, particularly those identified as veterans and gun owners.

    "Hi, I'm Mark Kelly -- combat veteran, astronaut, and most importantly, husband to my brave wife Gabrielle Giffords. I'm calling to thank your senator, Joe Manchin, for working across party lines to sponsor critical legislation to protect the Second Amendment rights of West Virginians and to keep your families safe from gun violence," Kelly says in the West Virginia ad.

    The calls urge recipients to contact Congress. Carusone said 185,000 robocalls are planned. The group will also email its grassroots supporters, which they say number 200,000.

    Among the GOP senators who the Giffords group and other gun control advocates view as potential supporters: Jeff Flake of Arizona, Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire, Dean Heller of Nevada, Susan Collins of Maine, and Johnny Isakson and Saxby Chambliss of Georgia.

    There are, however, a number of Democrats who might oppose the bill: Sens. Mark Pryor of Arkansas, Kay Hagan of North Carolina, Mark Begich of Alaska, Mary Landrieu of Louisiana and Max Baucus of Montana. Pryor and Begich voted "no" on the motion to open debate on guns.

    Related:

    Gun bill clears key Senate hurdle with bipartisan support

    Newtown passion moves Senate vote on guns

  • Gun store owner cancels Mark Kelly's AR-15 purchase

    Former astronaut Mark Kelly discusses the steps he and wife Gabrielle Giffords are touting for gun control reform, including the passage of a universal background check law.

    By Matthew DeLuca, Staff Writer, NBC News

    An Arizona gun store owner says he will not sell Mark Kelly the AR-15 rifle that the vocal advocate for tighter gun control bought earlier this month.

    The manager of the Tucson, Ariz., store where Kelly, husband of former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, bought the firearm has said that he will not complete the March 5 transaction, according to a statement posted on Facebook.


    “While I support and respect Mark Kelly’s 2nd Amendment rights to purchase, possess, and use firearms in a safe and responsible manner, his recent statements to the media made it clear that his intent in purchasing the Sig Sauer M400 5.56mm rifle from us was for reasons other then [sic] for his personal use,” Douglas MacKinlay, owner of Diamondback Police Supply, said in the post.

    The store was required to hold the rifle purchased by Kelly for 20 days, MacKinlay told the Associated Press after Kelly purchased the firearm.

    “He is a U.S. citizen, an Arizona citizen expressing his Second Amendment rights to purchase and own a firearm,” MacKinlay told the AP at the time.

    The gun store owner said in his statement posted on Monday that he had reconsidered the sale. MacKinlay did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday morning.

    “In light of this fact, I determined that it was in my company’s best interest to terminate this transaction prior to his returning to my store to complete the Federal Form 4473 and NICS [National Instant Criminal Background Check System] background check required of Mr. Kelly before he could take possession of this firearm,” MacKinlay said in the statement.

    The store sent Kelly a refund last Thursday, according to the statement. Kelly, an astronaut, has promoted tighter gun control since his wife, Giffords, was shot in the head at point-blank range by Jared Loughner in 2011.

    The couple launched a new national campaign in January to combat gun violence. Americans for Responsible Solutions was launched “to encourage elected officials to stand up for solutions to prevent gun violence and protect responsible gun ownership.”

    Kelly, who is a gun owner, has said his purchase was meant to demonstrate how easy it is to buy a semi-automatic rifle.

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  • Video shows dog belonging to Mark Kelly's daughter attack sea lion

    By Elizabeth Chuck, Staff Writer, NBC News

    A disturbing video has surfaced on YouTube of a dog locking its jaws on a beached baby sea lion as California beachgoers frantically try to free the trapped mammal.

    The dog, which Laguna Beach police said was an American bulldog mix, belonged to the daughter of astronaut Mark Kelly, husband of former Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, local media reported. Giffords, Kelly and his daughter -- Giffords' stepdaughter -- were vacationing in Laguna Beach on Saturday when the incident happened, reported The Los Angeles Times. 


    Laguna Beach police received a call at 2 p.m. on Saturday and arrived at the shoreline to find the dog had freed itself from its 18-year-old owner and attacked a beached sea lion on a public beach, Capt. Jason Kravetz said in an email to The Los Angeles Times. 

    In the YouTube video (warning: graphic video and language), three women attempt to pull a small, limp sea lion from the mouth of a dog who refuses to let go. Cries of "No!" No!" are heard as the dog shakes the beached sea lion in his mouth. Offscreen, someone yells, "Take him out there and drown the dog. He'll let go," to which one of the women yells back, "No, what the f---?"

    After a couple of minutes of struggling, Mark Kelly appears in the shot, according to the man who recorded the incident.

    The man who shot the video and posted it online only identified himself by his first name, Nathan.

    "Mark Kelly came over and picked the dog up by the collar, shook it, called the dog out by name, and that's when the dog released. Mark Kelly was able to walk the dog back to the parking lot," Nathan told KPNX, an NBC affiliate in Phoenix, where Giffords and Kelly live.

    A pool of blood from the sea lion is left on the shoreline as Kelly and the dog walk off. The sea lion, which isn't moving by that point, later died, according to The Los Angeles Times. It was removed from the area where it had beached itself, which may have been an indication that it was sick before the brutal encounter.

    The dog lives with Giffords' stepdaughter in Houston, according to the paper. No citations were issued because "it was legal for her to have the dog on the beach this time of year, and she did have it leashed. It was so strong that it pulled free of her when it saw the [sea lion]," Kravetz told The L.A. Times.

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  • At scene of her shooting, Giffords urges Congress to expand background checks

    Former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords speaks in Tucson, Ariz., in support of background checks for gun purchases. Giffords and her husband, Mark Kelly, returned to the scene where she was shot in 2011.

    By Erin McClam, Staff Writer, NBC News

    Former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords returned Wednesday to the Arizona grocery store where she was shot to push Congress to expand background checks for gun purchases.


    “Be bold. Be courageous. Please support background checks. Thank you very much,” said Giffords, speaking carefully in a brief appearance at the podium.

    Giffords appeared at the Safeway in Tucson with her husband, retired astronaut Mark Kelly, and with survivors and relatives of victims of the January 2011 shooting. Besides Giffords, six people were killed and 12 wounded.

    The former congresswoman also placed a bouquet on a memorial at the supermarket.

    The Senate Judiciary Committee is expected to vote Thursday on a bill that would toughen penalties for people who buy guns illegally for others and to make gun trafficking a felony.

    Giffords and Kelly’s group, Americans For Responsible Solutions, is airing TV ads in Arizona to persuade Sen. Jeff Flake, a Republican, to back universal background checks.

    A Flake spokeswoman said Wednesday that the senator opposes universal background checks. She said Flake supports making sure mental health records are better integrated into the background-check system “so that those who shouldn’t have access to guns are barred from purchasing them.”

    Asked about universal background checks on NBC’s “Meet the Press” last month, Arizona’s other senator, Republican John McCain, said senators were working on a bill “that I think that most of us will be able to support.”

    Jared Lee Loughner, 24, was sentenced in November to seven consecutive life sentences, plus 140 years, after pleading guilty in Giffords’ shooting. Giffords was at the Safeway for a meet-and-greet with constituents on Jan. 8, 2011.

    It was not the first time Giffords had returned to the Tucson Safeway. She was there for the anniversary of her shooting.

    The Associated Press contributed to this report.

    This story was originally published on Wed Mar 6, 2013 2:57 PM EST

  • Former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords plans Newtown visit

    NYC Mayor's Office via twitter.com

    New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, left, meets with former U.S. Rep. Gabby Giffords, right center, and her husband, Mark Kelly, on Wednesday.

    By Jeff Black, Staff Writer, NBC News

    Former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle "Gabby" Giffords, who survived a shooting at a campaign event in Arizona two years ago and now advocates stricter gun laws, plans to be in Newtown, Conn., on Friday for a private late afternoon meeting.


    Giffords plans to be at a home in the town where 20 first-graders and six staffers were gunned down at Sandy Hook Elementary School, a spokesperson for Gov. Dan Malloy's office told NBCConnecticut.com.

    The meeting, the details of which are unclear, comes a day after more than 400 Sandy Hook students returned to class in a new building. Lt. Gov. Nancy Wyman's spokesman Steve Jensen later told the AP that the visit was "planned but not confirmed" for Friday afternoon.

    Full buses bring 'excited' Sandy Hook students to new school

    Giffords was shot in the head outside a supermarket in Tucson at a meet-the-congresswoman event in 2011. Six people were killed in that attack.

    Monroe, Connecticut, police spokesperson Lt. Mark White says the Sandy Hook students were excited to see friends, and return back to school.

    Since then, Giffords and her husband, former astronaut Mark Kelly, have campaigned against gun violence and have been outspoken in their support of an assault weapons ban.

    The day of the Sandy Hook shooting three weeks ago, Kelly tweeted, “20 - 5 year olds gunned down in their own classroom. When will we address this problem as a nation? The time is now.”

    On his Facebook page, Kelly wrote a more lengthy statement, saying that “our response must consist of more than regret, sorrow, and condolence. The children of Sandy Hook Elementary School and all victims of gun violence deserve leaders who have the courage to participate in a meaningful discussion about our gun laws - and how they can be reformed and better enforced to prevent gun violence and death in America. This can no longer wait.”

    Kelly also said that Gabby sends her prayers to the victims.

    A week later, Kelly wrote he was disappointed by the NRA’s “defiant and delayed response to the massacre.” In a news conference that was the NRA's first public statement on the shootings, CEO Wayne LaPierre had blamed violent video games and movies, as well as the media, gun-free zones at schools and other factors.

    Mayor Michael Bloomberg explains what's reasonable and what's possible in the coming months in regards to gun control. Bloomberg says, "it's the president's job to promote a plan that satisfies the needs of the country."

    On Wednesday, Kelly and Giffords met with New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who has been an outspoken leader for gun control and is founder of a group called Mayors Against Illegal Guns. On “Meet the Press” in February 2012, Bloomberg expressed outrage that the Giffords shooting hadn’t sparked more action on gun control by Congress.

    Watch US News videos on NBCNews.com 

    “You’d think that if a congresswoman got shot in the head, that would have changed Congress’ views,” Bloomberg said. “I can tell you how to change it, just get Congress to come with me to the hospital when I've got to tell somebody that their son or daughter, their spouse, their parent is not going to come home ever again.”

    What Bloomberg, Giffords and Kelly discussed in their meeting has not been confirmed.

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  • Jared Loughner pleads guilty to Tucson shootings, avoids death penalty

    Jared Lee Loughner took full responsibility for the Arizona massacre, and now faces the rest of his life in prison. NBC's Miguel Almaguer reports.

    By NBC News staff

    Updated 6:50 p.m. ET: Jared Lee Loughner on Tuesday pleaded guilty to killing six people and wounding former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and a dozen others in a January 2011 shooting rampage at a Tucson, Ariz., supermarket.

    The plea came after U.S. District Court Judge Larry A. Burns ruled that the 23-year-old college dropout was competent enough to enter a plea.  

    "He's a different person in his appearance and affect than the first time I saw him," Burns said of Loughner.

    Bill Robles

    A courtroom sketch of Jared Loughner and his attorney Judy Clarke.

     


    Burns then began to question Loughner, asking if he understood everything in his guilty plea agreement, in which Loughner would admit to 19 counts --  the attempted assassination of Giffords, six counts related to the shooting deaths and the remaining counts for injuries --  and the government would not seek the death penalty.

    Loughner said he understood the charges. Asked by the judge if he has a clear mind, Loughner responded, "Yes, I do."

    Burns confirmed with Loughner and his attorney, Judy Clarke, that they understood that Loughner could not change his plea to not guilty by reason of insanity. Clarke also explained the deal waives Loughner's right to an appeal.

    Additional provisions of the plea deal call for Loughner to forfeit ownership of the weapons he used in the shootings and pay restitution of up to $19 million, $1 million to each of the victims. He also must forfeit any money earned from selling his story.

    Burns then read each of the counts against Loughner to which Loughner replied, "I plead guilty." The judge accepted the pleas.

    Loughner opened fire on Jan. 8, 2011, outside a Tucson Safeway where then-Rep. Giffords was holding a meet-and-greet with constituents. Six people, including a federal judge, John Roll, and a 9-year-old girl, Christina-Taylor Green, were killed. Giffords, who was shot in the head, was among 13 people wounded.

    John Leonardo, the US Attorney for the District of Arizona, says "Today justice was done," because Jared Loughner "will spend the rest of his life in prison." Watch the entire news conference.

    Earlier Tuesday, with Loughner listening calmly without expression, Dr. Christina Pietz, a psychologist who evaluated Loughner, testified that he showed signs of depression as early as 2006 and was diagnosed with schizophrenia in 2011. 

    Officials at a federal prison have forcibly medicated him with psychotropic drugs for more than a year. 

    Pietz said she believed that medication helped Loughner because he began showing some remorse about the shootings and at one point said he felt bad about the “assassination attempt,” and was tormented by thoughts of what he’d done.

    "He has become human," Pietz said, testifying Loughner was mentally competent to proceed with the hearing.

    A guilty plea deal means Loughner will not face the death penalty; instead, he would spend the rest of his life in prison. It would also mean that survivors and victims’ relatives, many of whom attended Tuesday's hearing, would be spared what could be a lengthy and agonizing trial.

    Loughner initialed each page of the agreement "JL" and signed his name to the document, dated Aug. 6, 2012, with a shaky signature.

    Though the plea agreement stipulates that Loughner will face a punishment of life in prison, he was not formally sentenced on Tuesday. That has been scheduled for Nov. 15.

    Analysis: In Loughner case, a cost-benefit calculation to the death penalty

    "It is my hope that this decision will allow the Tucson community, and the nation, to continue the healing process free of what would likely be extended trial and pre-trial proceedings that would not have a certain outcome," Attorney General Eric Holder said in a statement. "In making the determination not to seek the death penalty, I took into consideration the views of the victims and survivor families, the recommendations of the prosecutors assigned to the case, and the applicable law."

    The U.S. Attorney for Arizona, John Leonardo, said the resolution of the case was appropriate.

    Martial Trezzini / EPA

    Former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, seen here on July 25, 2012, was shot in the head during the shooting spree.

    "The lives of these victims and the lives of their families will never be the same," Leonardo said, "and nothing that the criminal justice system or anyone else can do will ever bring back what these people have lost."

    Several shooting survivors spoke out after the hearing, including U.S. Rep. Ron Barber, a former aide to Giffords, who called the plea agreement "certain" and "just."

    Earlier, Giffords’ husband said he and his wife were also satisfied with the plea deal with Loughner.

    "Gabby and I have been in contact with the U.S. Attorneys' Office throughout this process.  We don't speak for all of the victims or their families, but Gabby and I are satisfied with this plea agreement,” Kelly, a retired astronaut, said in the statement. 

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    “The pain and loss caused by the events of January 8, 2011 are incalculable.  Avoiding a trial will allow us - and we hope the whole Southern Arizona community - to continue with our recovery and move forward with our lives."

    Giffords retired from Congress a year after the shooting to focus on her recovery.

    NBC's Pete Williams, Jay Gray and Miguel Almaguer contributed to this report.

     

     

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  • Tucson survivor: Giffords 'makes me want to vomit'

    By msnbc.com staff

    Laura Segall / Reuters

    Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords (center), who suffered a head wound in the Tuscon shooting, smiles after reciting the Pledge of Allegiance at a memorial service marking the anniversary of the shooting, at the University of Arizona campus Jan. 8, 2012.

    A former Marine whose wife of 54 years was killed last year in the Tucson shootings that left six dead and 13 injured, including Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, has strong feelings about the Arizona lawmaker and her retired astronaut husband, Mark Kelly.

    "Every time I see them on TV," George Morris  told the Arizona Republic, "it makes me want to vomit."

    He said he and his wife had gone to Giffords' town-hall meeting outside the grocery store in Tucson on Jan. 8, 2011, to complain to his congresswoman, who he says kept voting for liberal causes.

    But before he had a chance to vent his anger, a gunman began shooting people in the crowd. Morris' wife, Dorothy, 76, was killed in the rampage, and he was hit in the legs and back. Giffords was shot in the head.

    In the days following the shooting, Morris, a self-described "ultraconservative," even refused an invitation to have President Barack Obama visit him in his hospital room, the Arizona Republic reported.

    "I will not kowtow to anyone," he told the newspaper. "People would not believe that I would refuse the president."

    Jared Lee Loughner, 23, has pleaded not guilty to 49 charges in the shooting. He has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and is  being forcibly medicated at a Missouri prison facility in an effort to make him mentally ready for trial.

    The Arizona city pauses to recall the one-year anniversary of the mass shooting that left six people dead and 13 injured, including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. NBC's Miguel Almaguer reports.

    On Sunday, the anniversary of the event, Giffords and her husband attended a remembrance at the University of Arizona. The congresswoman, who has spent the past year in Houston undergoing intensive physical and speech therapy, led the crowd of hundreds in the Pledge of Allegiance. 

    Morris, who had campaigned on behalf of Giffords' opponent in the 2010 election, said he didn't think Giffords should be in office then or now.

    "I think she ought to be thrown out of Congress posthaste," Morris told the Arizona Republic. "I do not think she is worthy of serving."

    He also said Giffords' husband should have had better security in place to protect his wife, knowing she was a target of death threats.

    "I'd like to debate our dear captain astronaut (and ask) why he didn't have security," Morris told the Arizona Republic. "My wife would still be alive."

    It was unclear why he thought Kelly should have been involved in security for an official event held for a member of Congress.

    Morris said he understands his comments about the congresswoman and her husband are controversial, especially among surviving relatives and victims of the shootings.

    But he said the violence outside the Tucson grocery store has not changed his opinion on Giffords' politics.

    "Either you stand for what you believe in or you stand for nothing at all," Morris said.

    Morris met his wife when they were juniors in high school. He told the Arizona Republic that they shared a great marriage of 54 years. "I can tell you no man has ever loved a woman more than I loved my wife," he said.

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